Millions struggle to cope with property losses, shortagesPower slowly being restored; food and water sites opening around city

Published 5:30 am, Monday, September 15, 2008

A single house is left standing Sunday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in the town of Gilchrist on the Bolivar Peninsula.

A single house is left standing Sunday in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in the town of Gilchrist on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Chronicle

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Alina Van Epps, who uses a wheelchair, is evaluated by emergency personnel as she waits to be evacuated from Galveston on Sunday.

Alina Van Epps, who uses a wheelchair, is evaluated by emergency personnel as she waits to be evacuated from Galveston on Sunday.

Photo: SHARÓN STEINMANN, CHRONICLE

As schools shut down, oil companies study Ike's impact

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Hurricane Ike hit the big recess bell for area school districts, some of which have suspended classes until further notice.

In addition to the Houston ISD -- which announced today that schools likely will be closed for a week to 10 days because of lack of electricity and minor damage to some campuses -- a number of other districts say they are postponing classes until further notice.

Those include the Pearland, Goose Creek, Hitchcock, and Pasadena school districts. Texas City schools will be closed until post-hurricane assessments are finished, and Episcopal High School in Houston is closed until Sept. 22.

School officials will confer with the Texas Education Agency to see how many school days missed because of the hurricane may need to be made up.

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In other developments, oil company inspections of damage at the Houston Ship Channel refinery complex the nation's largest continued today as President Bush expressed concern about Hurricane Ike's impact on the nation's fuel supply.

Bush, who plans to visit Houston on Tuesday, told reporters he was concerned about "upward pressure" on prices proving a hardship to consumers.

The AAA auto club today said gasoline in Texas has increased an average 13 cents per gallon since Friday. Nationally, the cost has risen by 10 percent, on average.

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ExxonMobil reported that its Baytown and Beaumont refinery suffered widespread, but not significant, damage from the hurricane. The world's largest oil company is importing gasoline from refineries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to supplement supplies.

Shell Oil Co. today said flyover examinations of its offshore platforms or drilling rigs has revealed no major structural damage. Marathon Oil's Texas City refinery remains without electrical power.

Diamond Offshore Drilling today reported that its offshore rigs stayed in place during the hurricane, but at least one jack-up rig lost all its drilling equipment.

On the local level, many Houston-area service stations remained without power today. Those that do have electricity to run their pumps were the sites of blocks-long lines of customers growing desperate for fuel.

State Sen. Rodney Ellis said he is investigating, at Mayor Bill White's request, the possibility of bringing gasoline trucks into Houston neighborhoods.

Ellis expressed concerns about the safety of such a plan, however.

"We are no longer in the eye of the storm," he said, "but in the eye of the aftermath, which in many ways can be more devastating."

Meanwhile, an estimated 10,000 people flocked to a food distribution site at a north Houston church this morning as emergency officials opened six such centers around the Houston area and prepared to open 11 more by day's end.

The opening of the sites, where food, ice and bottled water are being distributed, apparently defused a potential conflict between the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In addition to FEMA supplies, the centers distributed 200,000 pounds of ice donated by H-E-B supermarkets.

The line of residents awaiting assistance stretched two blocks at the Greenspoint distribution point, the Harvest Time Church at 17770 Imperial Valley. Authorities said the first client arrived at the site at 3:30 a.m., hours before the church opened its doors.

The center briefly ran out of food a few hours after opening, but more trucks soon arrived and the food distribution resumed.

At Conroe's distribution point, the Grand Theatre, the process of handing out essentials seemingly went smoothly. Ray Alewin, 61, of Seven Coves waited in line only 10 minutes.

"Ice is the big commodity," he said. "If you get ice, you can make it."

While most recipients were grateful, consternation arose when some cars containing multiple families finally arrived at the head of the line. Only then did they learn that each vehicle was limited to two bags of ice, one case of bottled water and a single 12-pack of ready-to-eat meals.

"The rules are in place to make sure everybody gets at least something," said church pastor Sean Mooney. "It's not the church's limit; it's the FEMA rule. They don't want people hoarding up and then taking it out and selling it. This makes the distribution more equal."

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pledged on Sunday that his team was "working feverishly" to get the centers open, even as Mayor Bill White expressed concern over how long the process was taking.

FEMA officials responded that setting up the centers was contingent on assurances that workers would be on hand to staff them.

Torres said the couple had searched the city in vain for a bag of ice.

"Beggars can't be choosers," he said as he eyed the line snaking around the church. "I just hope they'll have enough for everyone."

Torres and his wife, and thousands of others standing in FEMA lines, had the blessing of waiting under sunny, azure skies. Thanks to a cold front that arrived Sunday, temperatures this morning were in the low 70s.

Although the Texas Gulf Coast is strewn with wreckage in Hurricane Ike's wake, there were a few bright signs today that life is haltingly, incrementally moving toward normal.

The city's admonition to boil tap water before drinking it expired this afternoon. No evidence of contamination has been found.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority resumed operation of some high-priority bus routes. Regular Houston garbage collection began today and Fort Bend County with the possible exception of Sugar Land is planning trash pickup Tuesday of trees, shrubs and other debris.

The city's 311 service line this morning was back in operation, with at least 40 lines up and running.

All freeways to downtown Houston were reported open this morning, although the Interstate 10 Smith Street exit and the Interstate 45 Milam Street exit to the city's center remained closed.

In a city still largely shuttered, it was apparent which businesses had returned to life. Lines of customers stretched from front doors to around the block at a League City Wal-Mart, a Hobby Airport Shipley's Doughnuts and a Gulfgate H-E-B supermarket.

A similar scene was apparent at service stations that had fuel and electricity to dispense it.

That was the good news.

More good news came today from the federal government, which, the Associated Press reported, will offer a three-month moratorium on mortgage foreclosures insured by the Federal Housing Authority to people living in disaster areas.

Additionally, federally guaranteed loans will be provided to state and local governments for rehabilitating housing, economic development and infrastructure repair.

Still, the situation for coastal residents in southeast Texas and western Louisiana remained bleak.

The storm seemingly spared no one, with at least seven fatalities in Texas so far, floodwaters, fallen trees, and shortages of power, water and ice affecting every community from Galveston to Beaumont, Houston to Surfside, The Woodlands to Pearland. Ike also destroyed a number of production platforms and damaged pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico, exasperating a rebuilding effort that is expected to top $10 billion.

The death toll includes at least five in the battered barrier island city of Galveston. With the hurricane transforming the popular destination into a debris-covered ghost town, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas warned residents to stay away, possibly for weeks, until the most pressing services are restored.

In Houston, Mayor Bill White on Sunday ordered a weeklong curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. because of the widespread damage and darkness.

White today reported that Houston crime levels are below normal, although fires have been more frequent. "The level of vigilance has been high," he said.

White said Houston residents whose homes are uninhabitable can find shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center. He asked that the shelter cots be saved for those with severe hardship, not those merely made uncomfortable by power outages.

For the first time this morning rescuers flew into the heart of the coastal devastation.

"They had a lot of devastation over there," task force leader Chuck Jones told the Associated Press. "It took a direct hit."

Jones said his crew would attempt to reach hard-hit Galveston Island tonight, but was prepared to remain on Bolivar.

National death toll at least 30

At least 30 people have died as a result of the hurricane, but most of the fatalities have occurred elsewhere in the United States as the storm followed a northeasterly track across the nation. This morning, the remnants of the storm were near Rochester, N.Y., where they were generating winds of 30 mph.

By this afternoon, the National Weather Service had dropped its regular postings regarding the storm's location.

In the Houston area, deaths so far included a 72-year-old Galveston man who died in his truck after trying to flee the island late Friday. A woman died in her bed early Saturday when a tree fell on her home in Pinehurst. And a 4-year-old Houston boy and two adults in his home died of carbon monoxide poisoning from the generator his family was using for power.

Despite repeated warnings from authorities regarding the hazards of improper use of gasoline-powered generators, storm victims continue to fall ill with carbon monoxide poisoning. Three members of a Sugar Land family this morning were hospitalized from exposure to the deadly gas.

Meanwhile, the search-and-rescue effort was the largest in the state's history, with more than 50 helicopters, 1,500 searchers and teams from federal, state and local agencies. Authorities said that 1,984 people had been rescued, including 394 by air, as of Sunday afternoon.

The state opened more than 250 shelters for more than 37,000 evacuees, and there were plans to evacuate up to 10,500 residents who had stayed in Galveston.

Setting priorities

With the area gripped by a massive power outage, millions of Houstonians got creative and, in some cases, cranky as they craved fresh coffee, cold air and their Sunday football fix.

Some took to their lawns to escape sauna-like heat, while others huddled in the homes of those lucky enough to have working lights, air conditioning and television. Grocery stores, pharmacies and a few restaurants with restored power or generators drew long lines of customers.

CenterPoint said it had restored power to 500,000 customers, but about 1.6 million were still without power. Entergy said 99 percent of their customers still were without power, and Texas New Mexico Power said 64 percent were without electricity.